The Original Event
by DaMan30026
Summary: Ashley and John find themselves stuck in a classic battle between good and evil due to news from Ashley's dying great-grandfather. this story kind of sucks so i decided to remake it... check out the new version on my stories page.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Memories of Someone Else**

I just finished Latin class and raced outside to my car. Today I needed to pick up Ashley and I wasn't going to be late. If we timed it right we could get some alone time and hang out. I rushed past the dormer's hall and onto the sophomore/junior parking lot. I found my car and threw my bags in the back. I climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. All I could think about was finally getting time to hang out with Ash alone. Pulled out onto Washman Avenue and headed towards her school. It was mid-November and cold, so I was shivering. My car began to heat up and I loosened up.

"Thanks," I said to my car, jokingly.

I arrived at St. Matthew's School for Girls and saw Ash waiting outside the front doors for me. It was kind of annoying though because I had to go all the way around the school to get to her. The street system had a serious flaw in it. I drove around the school slowly considering the amount of high school girls running to their cars. It would probably not be too good if I hit one of them. Slowly but surely I moved around to the front of the school.

I pulled up next to where Ash was standing and she loaded her stuff into the car with a smile on her face. She moved around to the passenger's seat and climbed in.

"Hey, John," she said and leaned in to give me a kiss.

"Where are we going?" I asked and kissed her.

"My mom just texted me that her grandpa's dying," she said. "Can we swing by to see him really quick and then we'll head to my house."

"Yeah," I said. "You okay? Dying sucks."

"No kidding, but yeah I'm fine," She said with a smile. "He's at his house on Mason Avenue a couple of blocks from my house."

I shrugged and pulled out of the St. Matthew's parking lot and back out onto Washman. I knew Mason was the next right and went that way. I asked Ash how her day was and the usual conversation followed. Before I knew it she said, "That's it." We pulled up and walked into a house to find an old man lying on a bed with Ash's mom and dad sitting by his bed. The man waved us over, and I heard him faintly ask Ash's mom and dad for privacy. I turned to go with her parents, but the man began waving.

"No," he said, in a croaking tone. "You need to hear this, too."

I walked back over and stood next to Ash.

"So you're Ashley's boyfriend?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," I said.

"I trust you're happy with him?" he asked Ash.

"Yes," she said.

"Good," he said and half sighed, half coughed. "There's something the two of you need to know. The two of you and no one else, do you promise to keep this secret?"

I looked at Ash and she looked at me. She gave me the look that said, _I have no idea what this is about but please go with it_.

"Yes," we said.

"Good," he coughed. "_The Event_ is coming up, and I can't fight anymore. You need to go and take my place. It is tradition for two people to take this task. But when my wife died it was left to me. The two people are always male and female and are eternally betrothed as soon as they take the task."

"Grandpa," Ashley started. "We're only sixteen…"

"Just listen, please," he coughed. "You two share an aura. You are meant to be together. Beside the point, you need to do this. Otherwise, you leave the fate of this world to chance. There are more instructions in the desk in my study. Along with this final act…"

He reached forward for me with one hand and gestured for me to kneel. I did so, and he touched my forehead. I felt a load of memories flow into my mind. One memory stuck into my head. I watched an old woman walk forward to a sleeping girl in her bed. She touched the girl on the head and the girl shook for a moment. The woman went limp, and I rushed involuntarily towards her. I caught her before she fell and looked up. On the dresser in the corner of the room were blocks that spelled out "Ashley". I gasped and came back to my normal vision. The man's hand went limp, and I caught it.

"I understand," I said, looking at the dead body.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – A Letter from Home**

Explaining what I'd seen to Ashley was hard enough but reading the letter in the study was harder. It was a crumpled not as if it had been passed down over hundreds of years. There were scratch out marks and I presumed it had been recopied. I went to read it out loud, but then read the first line that specifically said not to say anything out loud. I pointed to that part and faced it towards Ashley.

"I'll read it first and then give it to you," I said, she nodded and sat down in the office chair. I looked at the paper and read:

_To the next defendants,_

_ Do not read this out loud no matter what you do they are probably listening. We know this has probably come as a shock to you both, but it is necessary. Members of Mayhem are trying to control the world's leaders and tempt everyone to sin. Although they are relatively powerless, they can rally people to their cause and make them fight against you. For the remainder of your life, you will need to work against their forces in your continent. There are other defendants, but you are not to converse with them ever. Their needs cannot be corrupted as well as your needs. The previous defendants have passed on their memories to you. If you pick a topic and search your mind, you will likely come across a memory to help you and your cause._

_ If one of the previous defendants warned you about The Event, your experience will be slightly different. The Event is when the Lord of the Members of Mayhem arises to try and gain a foothold into our world. His name is Crisis. He is a dragon, but he can take many forms. As parts of him reach connection on Earth, you will need to destroy them. There are four parts. If any one of these parts goes undestroyed, he will return in his true state. The first part is his legs. They take the form of something along the lines of a Balverine or other fast animal. The next form is his arms. They take the form of apes or animals of strength. They arrive as a pair so you will need to destroy both of these. His wings arrive as one bird or flying animal. His head is last and it takes the form of a man hooded and cloaked in black. He is extremely dangerous and usually wields the Sword of Mortalis. You will need to work together to defeat him. The event only happens once every fifty years and corresponds with the Catholic Calendar. This is why Jesus Christ's actual birthday is not year 0._

_ Since the two of you are now married, the ultimate forces in this world blessed you with three years of freedom to hone your skills with a Light Blade and magic as well as grow as a married pair. Enjoy the three years, but do not forget your duty. You cannot escape your fate, so you might as well enjoy it as well as each other. You will need to go to the armory and find fitting armor. Your continents armory is located in __the back of the desk is a switch that opens the armory__. Please use this weaponry responsibly. This also will serve as your home._

_Good Luck,  
Annalise and Michael  
The Original Defendants_

I finished the note and passed it to Ash. I sat down as she read it. Everything was about to change. I ran my hand under the desk and felt around a button. I pressed it and a piece of the floor under the desk lifted up and moved over. There was a ladder under where it was and small lights running down. I got on my knees and climbed under the desk. The ladder ran down for what seemed like forever. Ash passed me the note.

"I'm going to leave a note for my parents to let them know we're ok," she said. "My great-grandmother told them once that something would happen where I'd have to leave them. She entrusted them with the job of not to sell the house. Why don't we go down that ladder to find a place to talk about what happened."

"Good idea," I said.

I began climbing down the ladder and it took probably thirty seconds for Ash to finish the note. She began climbing down after me and I looked only to find myself getting a view up her skirt. We had been dating for two and a half years, so I had already seen her in nothing but underwear, but I felt this wasn't the time to get an erection. I went down to the bottom after another thirty seconds of climbing and found myself facing the inside of a warehouse.

"Damn," I said, staring.

"What?" asked Ashley, as she came down the ladder and turned to face the room. "Damn."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Building of Secrets**

We both took in a few seconds to grasp what we were looking at. It was separated into four groups in this main room. One of them had a series of cars and motorcycles as well as a helicopter. Another section had swords lined on the walls. The third section had guns lined up and enough ammo to supply a war. The last section had a massive oven in it and a series of what looked like blacksmithing tools. The warehouse had everything from weapons, vehicles, and working desks to separate hallways that were each labeled differently.

"Living Quarters," Ash said, reading all of the hallways. "Training Facilities, Kitchen, and Infirmary."

"I don't like the sound of that last one," I said. "I hope we never have to use it, but I'm glad it's there."

"Might as well check all of them out," she said and headed towards the infirmary.

She walked past the blacksmithing area and the door to the infirmary shut in front of her. A pad came out of the wall in front of her and an image was slowly projected onto the pad.

"You are not allowed to be here," said a male computer voice. "Please state your name or you will be exterminated."

"Ashley Stevens," Ash said.

"Invalid, restate," the voice said.

"I don't understand," she said. "That's my name."

"Let me try mine," I said and stepped up to the hologram. "My name is John Arling."

"Valid name," the computer said. "Is this Ashley Arling as well?"

I thought for a second and searched my memories for something having to do with this computer and my name being programmed into it. I suddenly came across a vision. I was standing in front of Ash's parents. I asked them, in a voice that wasn't mine, what Ashley's boyfriend's name was. They responded with John. I asked them for a last name. They responded with Arling. I asked if he had parents. They shook their heads. I got up and headed to the study. I flashed forward and was talking to the computer that now sat in front of me. I told it two names. One of them was mine, and the other's was Ashley but with my last name. I sighed and came out of the vision. Ashley was staring at me like I'd just come out of a coma.

"That memory stuff works," I said. "I guess her last name is Arling to you. I don't think he was kidding when he told us we are married."

"That explains a lot," she said. "Not that I don't like it, but it's just not how I imagined it."

"Same," I said.

"Peter Stevens," the hologram started. "He instructed me to tell you something. He said, 'I know this has come as a shock to both of you, but I don't want you to worry. Like it says in your note, you have three years. You also have another two until the event. That should give you plenty of time to get used to your new abilities. PAT will help you along the way. It stands for Patient Artificial Technologies. His job is to help guide you through the facilities and run the training operations. Also, this facility uses technology 200 years ahead of the rest of the world. It has replenishing food, water, gasoline, ammunition, and metal system courtesy of our Japanese friends. PAT will take over for you both. Good luck, both of you.'"

"So your name is PAT?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," PAT said. "Would you like a tour now?"

"Yes that would be great," Ash said, and the door opened in front of us.

We walked down the hall and found ourselves facing something out of a science-fiction movie. It was a room that was completely chrome. It had a machine hovering above a bed in the center of the room. There was a label on the side facing the door that read: "Doc". A red bulb attached through a metal arm came out of the center of the machine and a red line scanned over Ash and I.

"No major injuries," a computer voice says. "The male does have a progressing cold in the early stages of development."

"Dang," I said. "That's cool."

A vial floated towards me with a glowing green liquid in it. I grabbed it and the voice came back.

"Drink that, Mr. Arling," Doc said. "It will kill your cold and prevent you from getting another one for the next six months."

I drank it, and for the first time, it was a tasteless, odorless liquid and felt immediately better. I nodded and a dish floated over to me. I set the empty vial in the dish and it floated back out a large slot in the wall. I turned towards a panel that now slid out of the wall.

"As you can see we have a full infirmary as well as a fully qualified and self-serving machine as its doctor," PAT said. "The kitchen and the living quarters are relatively self explanatory. Shall we proceed to the training facilities?"

"Sure," Ash said.

A few moments later I found myself in a massive room that was round. I scanned the room and noticed a series of rods jutting out of the wall.

"Would you like to run a practice simulation?" PAT asked.

"That's probably a good idea," Ash said. "Will you simulate of the Members of Madness we'll be fighting please."

"I must protest," PAT started. "It may not be good for you to take so much in at one time."

"It's only a situation, PAT," I said. "Just put us in the room with it and the best weapon for killing one."

"As you wish," PAT said. "Just say end simulation when you want to stop."

The hologram went away and the pad retreated back into the wall. All of the sudden the room got dark and a rectangular room formed in front of us with a door and a walkway spreading towards us. A sword formed in front of each of us, and we both picked one up. I stepped forward cautiously to find the projected walkway was solid. I looked at Ashley, and we walked towards the door. I opened it just enough to see that it was pitch black. I saw the edge of a light switch and turned it on. A single light bulb shone from what looked like the center of the room. I stepped in and Ash was right behind me. On the opposite side of the room a dark, furry creature that was maybe ten feet tall was crouched in the room. Its tail was clearly in the light. I took a step forward, and it instantly turned to face us. Its face belonged to a wolf and a second later it disappeared. I took a second step forward and looked back at Ashley. She had a puzzled look on her face.

I couldn't tell what hit me, but I felt a sharp pain just below my rib cage on my left side. I launched towards the floor to my right and struggled to get up. When I did manage to stand I looked around only to get smacked in the same spot again. I launched to the opposite corner of the room from Ash. I saw a flash of black and realized it was going for Ash.

"Don't you dare," I said. The world seemed to slow down around me and I ran towards Ash. I wasn't moving at my normal speed, and I realized I was actually viewing the current events from a faster time frame. I saw the balverine and it was bounding towards Ash. I knew I was going to be able to intercept it in time, but I had no idea how to stop it. I baseball slid between it and Ash as it lunged towards her. I knocked it up towards the ceiling and came back into the normal time frame. The balverine hit the ground and rolled. Ash rushed forward as if she had teleported. There was a streak of glowing silvery light between where she was and where she had been. She seemed to have finished a stroke with her blade. And there was a thud as the balverine's head came off and hit the floor.

"What did we just do?" Ash asked.

"I have no idea," I responded. "End Simulation…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Magic?**

Ash and I were eating dinner in the kitchen after our practice run with the balverine. I stared blankly at the food. Ash had made it, and it was delicious. The problem was that I had too much on my mind to be hungry. I thought back to some of the Peter Stevens had said to us. One of the things was something about new abilities. I thought he meant that we'd be better at hunting down monsters. As I thought, I rolled my shoulder and there was a massive pop. I grunted and realized that the simulation had real effects to it. My shoulder was sore from landing on it so many times.

I took a bight of the food and looked up at Ashley. She had this blank stare and I realized she was searching her memories. She gasped and took a few breaths.

"I get why you hate searching your memories," she said, half laughing. "It's incredibly creepy. My great-grandparents did the sort of things we did. They left the information stored in PAT with a password guarding it."

"PAT," I said and the hologram appeared on the table.

"Yes," he said.

"Enter code: Careful," Ash said to PAT.

"Accepted," he said. "What would you like to know about spell casting?"

"How does it work?" we asked together. We looked at each other surprised that we asked the same thing.

"You think of what you want to happen, and it does. The only trick is that you need a strong motive to use magic. Eventually, however, that can be changed and you can become so good with magic that you can do almost anything without thinking to hard about it."

"That's useful," Ash said.

"There really isn't a downside besides the fact that it takes a long time to learn," PAT said. "I think, though, if you'd like I could try and sum up all the last defendants did to learn magic, so that you're almost as good as they were by the end of your 3 years of peace."

"That's probably a good idea," I said. "But we should probably stop for today."

"That would be logical," PAT said in a rather off tone. "The main bedroom is all the way at the end of the Living Quarters."

"I'll take a different one if you'd like," I said to Ash. I knew she wasn't pleased with the fact that all of her dreams of marriage had gone down the drain. Even if it had nothing to do with me, she was still upset that her destiny had been decided for her.

"No need," Ash said. "We need to get used to this."

"You couldn't anyway," PAT said. "The defendants that designed this place knew that some people would come together the way you two did. They wanted you to focus on the mission at hand over each other, even though the bond between you two is equally important."

"I guess we should go to bed then," I said.

We walked out of the Kitchen and into the living quarters. We found the main bed chamber and settled in. There was a dresser on each side of the room as well as a nightstand by each side of the bed.

"You want to pick a side?" I asked. "It doesn't matter to me."

She walked over to the dresser on our left and opened it. Inside it was a computer and some empty hangers. There were categories of clothes listed on the computer and the words: "Touch Category to Start Making an Outfit".

I walked over to mine and looked at it more closely. The categories were: "Armor, Suits, Shirts, Shorts, Pants, Jackets, Underwear, Outerwear, Nightwear, and Miscellaneous". I selected "Nightwear" and a list of pajama shirts and bottoms came up. I selected a black t-shirt and pajama pants and went back to find a new pair of underwear. At the bottom right hand of the screen was a selection that read "Done". I hit it and the hangers on my side were filled with the outfit I picked out. I grabbed them and looked over at Ash.

"Do you want to take a shower first?" I asked. "Or would you like me to?"

"I'll go first if that's ok," she asked.

She finished picking out her outfit, but I didn't care to look. I sat down on the bed and looked over as she entered the bath room. She looked at me through the mirror and gave me a sort of half-smile.

I felt horrible. She was forced to be with me in this situation that was becoming more and more like a nightmare. Even though we could do all this cool stuff and we both enjoyed being with each other, I don't know that either of us was ready for this big of a commitment. I wanted to see her happy. That was the only thing I knew at this moment. And so far, I was doing a pretty shitty job of fulfilling that. That was the only smile she'd had since we got to Peter's house. I laid down making myself more and more pissed as I contemplated what this did to her. I dug my face into my palms and thought for the remainder of the time Ash was showering.

I heard the door click as she unlocked it. I looked up and she stepped out with her old clothes in a white tang top and sweat-pants. I watched her place the clothes in a bin and lay down on the bed. Pulled out a drawer on her nightstand and pulled out a Nook, a thing that you put books on to read instead of having paper books. I got up and headed for the shower. I kept contemplating what I had done. I finished and turned off the water. I changed my clothes and picked up my dirty clothes.

I walked out and placed my dirty clothes in the bin after taking my wallet and phone out. I placed the wallet and phone on my nightstand and headed for the fan light.

"Do you want the fan on?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you."

I flipped the switch and the fan began to spin. It was nice because we had the same sleeping environment preferences. I walked over to my side of the bed and crawled in under the covers. I turned to face Ash and she noticed. She went to turn off the light.

"It's not that," I said. She turned and looked at me with a puzzled face. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"John," Ash started. "You've done nothing wrong. I'm not upset to be your wife or anything like that. It's just the fact that I never got anything normal in a relationship as far as the proposal or anything."

I sighed and said, "But I want to and am supposed to make you happy. So far, I haven't done a very good job though."

She set down the Nook and leaned over towards me. "You have done nothing wrong, John," she said and kissed me. "You're doing a good job. I'm just a bitch."

I chuckled and said, "I'll still make it up to you."

She turned off the nook and light and crawled under the covers.

"Goodnight," she said, still smiling from what I could tell.

"Goodnight." I quickly made a vibration alarm on my phone for 4:00 am. I was going to make it up to her. It was worth it. She was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Skipping the Wedding**

The vibration went off on my phone, and I woke up. I turned off the alarm and realized I had my arms wrapped around Ash and she was holding them. There were two reasons I had to get up though. For one, I needed to make a ring. And secondly, I'm a hormonal 16-year-old and had a morning erection pressed against a girl I was pretty sure I loved but was not fully open with. I went to take my arms out from under her, but she pulled them to her. I remembered once that she told me she talks in her sleep. I kissed her on the back of the head and leaned next to her ear.

"I need to go, Ash," I whispered. "Can you let me go please?"

"Sure," she said sleepily and loosened her grip.

I kissed her again on the back of the head and again on the cheek and slowly pulled my arms out. I thanked whatever higher power there really was in the universe and walked over to the dresser. I picked out some dark blue jeans, a black MIZZOU t-shirt, a pair of boxers, a pair of socks, and a pair of Converse tennis shoes. I didn't worry about changing in a different room because Ash was still sleeping. As I stripped down I realized this was the first time I was naked in the same room as a woman. I smiled and finished changing.

I walked out of the room and carefully closed the door behind me. I walked down the hall into the central chamber.

"PAT," I said out loud. "Are you there?"

"For you or Mrs. Ashley, always," said a computer voice. "What can I help you with, sir?"

"Well," I said. "I'm making Ashley a ring and need your help doing so. Also, don't suppose you can make a cup of coffee with milk and sugar?"

"Yes, sir," he said. "I can do both of those for you. The coffee will be ready in five minutes, and if you make your way over to the blacksmithing area, I can instruct you from there."

I did as he instructed and walked over to a desk lined up with metals. Each one was labeled and I picked a few. I didn't have any gold, so I picked platinum. I didn't want it to rust, so I grabbed a small amount of zinc. I had grabbed titanium to use as the base for the diamond. The diamond was 4 carrots, so it wasn't very big. It got the point across though, and I knew Ash would like it. She told me once that she never wanted a massive diamond, or a gold ring even for that matter. She just wanted to know that it mattered. I began to laugh thinking about the fact that this probably was predetermined. I just happened to end up with the right supplies to make this work. That was creepy.

"Do I have my thought process right on this, PAT?" I asked.

"So far everything checks out," he responded. "I am working on making a mold for your rings right now."

"Thanks, PAT."

"Here is your coffee, sir," he said and a cup of light brown colored coffee floated towards me.

It wasn't too hot and the sugar wasn't overpowering. I had never been able to get it that dead on before. This was excellent.

I drank it and headed over to the sword section of the main room. There were about fifteen different swords lined on the walls, but what I didn't see before was the armor laid out. There were pairs of male and female armor lined up. It progressed from a dark but shiny plate armor to a cloth based armor. Fifteen sets in all. I walked over to take a closer look at the swords and found they had different names written on them. One of them read "Peter". I pulled it off its resting place. It was a heavy two handed sword that was almost as long as I am. I set it back.

"Traditionally people create their own weapons based on their fighting style," PAT said. "The recommendation is that you run through a training course with each of the weapons on the rack, or you can just create your own sword right of the bat."

"I'll worry about that later," I said.

About four hours went by before the ring was finished. I guessed that Ash wasn't going to wake up until 9:00 am or so. I decided that it should be a dinner proposal and headed to the training room.

"PAT," I said. "I want to make a restaurant setting using the simulation sequences if that's ok."

"Sure, sir," he responded. "What are your specifications?"

I gave him every little detail from red curtains to the number of candles on the table. I also added fake people in the restaurant as well as waiters for effect. It was the best fake Italian restaurant I had ever built. I told PAT to save it and went to get the rings. All that was left now was to wait for a sixteen-year-old woman to wake up.

"Shit," I said. "I'm an idiot aren't I?"

"I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from, sir."

"I was being rhetorical," I said. "I'm going back to bed. See you later, PAT."

I got back and changed into the clothes I wore to bed last night and climbed back into bed. I set the ring in the drawer of my nightstand. I scooted towards Ash a little bit. When I closed my eyes to go back to sleep I felt her role over to face me. I felt her arm go around me, and I smiled. I lay there enjoying the moment for a while before falling back asleep.

When I woke up and looked at the clock, it was 4:00 in the afternoon. I didn't know how I slept that long, but I did. Ashley was gone, and her side of the bed was made. The blankets were up over my shoulders which I never do. I smiled and got up to make the rest of the bed. After I was done I changed into the clothes I had picked out earlier in the day. I grabbed the ring out of the drawer and headed for the central chamber. I began hearing the sounds of gunfire and ran to grab a gun and ammunition off the wall. However, PAT stopped me.

"Sir," PAT said. "It's ok. Mrs. Ashley is just on the firing range."

"Ok," I said. "I guess I'll go there now."

I grabbed an M4A1 off the wall as the ammunition I needed. I grabbed a sight and a grip and fitted it on the rail system. I headed towards the training facilities and opened the door to find a classic firing range with dummies that would pop up for you to shoot. I waited for Ash to stop before calling out to her.

"I think I'm getting better, PAT," she said.

"That last one was 45 out of 50, ma'am," PAT said. "That is much improved from your original scores."

"And what were those scores I might ask?" I said.

"Good afternoon, John," she said. "You don't want to know."

"I do," I said. "But I'm not going to make you tell me the scores. Mind if I join?"

"Not at all," she responded with a smile. She raised her M4 and I did the same and switched to semi-automatic firing mode. I didn't have the sight adjusted, but that was ok. "Start it, PAT!" she yelled.

A target popped up and I turned and popped a single round into the center of the target on the face and two more shots where the heart should be while she sprayed up the body. Another target popped up, but this time she beat me to it. I followed with two shots to the head though. After all the targets had popped we waited for PAT to rally the scores to us.

"Both of you had 50 out of 50 targets hit," he said.

"How about another half hour of this, then we take showers, and then I have a surprise for you," I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Just go with it, ma'am," PAT said.

"Thanks, PAT," I said. "But I got this from here."

"Alright," she said. "I'll go along with it."

We played another few matches with perfect scores again. We headed into the bedroom and took turns showering. When she came out of the shower, however, she was only wearing her underwear because she had yet to pick out a dress. I took a shower but grabbed one more, good look at her amazing body. I came out of the shower in my boxers, but changed into a suit. Her dress was blue with a v-neck that went down to her stomach.

"You look amazing," I said as we went towards the training facilities.

PAT had everything set up perfectly. It looked like we just entered a top of the line Italian restaurant. The waiters and other guests looked real, and it felt nice to take her "out" to eat. I pulled out her chair for her and she sat down. I sat down on the opposite side of the table. We ordered our food and talked about what our friends were thinking happened to us, what the orphanage was doing right now to figure out what happened to me, and where I learned to shoot a gun.

"So where did you learn to shoot a gun?" Ash asked me as she ate a bite of salad.

"The other orphans and I stole a bb gun when we were little, and I learned to shoot it really well. When the warden found out, he confiscated the gun, but he taught us how to shoot a real gun to show it wasn't a joke. Instead of turning us into pacifists as he planned, he ended up turning us into sharpshooters."

We ate and continued talking. I tried the best I could to get her into the best mood possible before even thinking of pulling out the ring. When I knew it was perfect I got up.

"Ashley," I said and walked towards her. "I know you wanted a legitimate proposal before getting married for the ability to have a choice in your spouse. So that's why I'm doing this." I got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. "Ashley Elizabeth Stevens, would you give me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She was speechless, so she nodded and smiled. I put the ring on her finger and kissed her. We stayed there in an embrace for too short of a time even though it was probably a solid minute. We finished our meal and headed back to the bedroom. I carried her all the way there and set her down on the bed.

"No wait," she said shoving me off. "Since we're already technically married, that means we're on honeymoon. Close your eyes."

She got up and walked to the dresser, and I closed my eyes.

"Ok," she said. "Open them and turn around."

She was wearing a white lingerie set. She turned around slowly and laughed.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"I can't come up with anything," I said. "That is how amazing you look."

She smiled and walked towards me. We made out and slowly our clothes came off. She moaned and I grunted, and eventually, we were left embracing each other under the covers slowly falling asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Not Alone**

It was dark in St. Louis, Missouri. The southern county of the city was only lit by street lamps this late at night. There was a distant sound of gunfire as a crime was committed, but that's not what he was here for. He growled as he began to smell the scent he knew so well. A balverine was around. It may even be one of his kin. But it was evil. He had to end it.

As he leaned back against the side of the building watching, he saw movement. He watched the area careful not to focus for the fear of missing movement somewhere else. A dark figure jumped over top of him and onto the next roof. He lunged after it. He moved quietly without full nails even though they were jumping from roof top to roof top with unreal speed. He timed every jump perfectly, slowly gaining on the wild balverine. It looked back at one point and he rolled into an alley way to avoid being seen.

"Enough," he said and jumped up past the roofs of two buildings to intercept the balverine. He wrapped around its body with one arm and placed the other on a roof top. The balverine growled, and he clenched the roof with his free hand, ripping through the shingles of the roof. The noise was minimal, but then he whipped his arm and chucked the balverine down at a car. It crushed the car under its massive weight and when it was about to get up, he landed on top of it. With one swipe of his hand, the balverine's head came off. The body disappeared and he looked down. The dog tags on he was wearing read: "Andrew Masters".

I awoke with a start that scared the living daylights out of Ashley. She had already been awake but was still shaking from the rapid jolt I had given her.

"Oh my God," I said.

"What," Ash responded.

"I just had a vision," I said still shaking.

"Another one," Ash said. "John, you get these all the time it was nothing."

"Ashley," I said and faced her. "This time I didn't see just blurred visions of things. This one came through as clear as day. Ash, I saw a fight from the point of view of what seemed to be a half-balverine, half- human. This thing was wearing nametags with Andrew's name on it."

"Andrew Masters?" asked Ash with a puzzled look.

"Yeah," I said. "Andrew got those nametags from his father's belongings after he died in Iraq. He never took them off."

"Where did this take place," she asked.

"Here in St. Louis," I said. "In the distance I saw the Gateway Arch. It looked like South County by the Mississippi River. That looked too real to not be true."

"Write it in the journal," Ash said. "I'll go make breakfast, and then we can suit up and check it out."

I nodded and sat at the end of the bed. Ashley came over to me and hugged me, her nude body pressing against my back. I reached up and rubbed her hands. She kissed my shoulder and got up. She threw on some underwear and a robe and walked towards the Kitchen. I got up and threw a pair of boxers and a t-shirt on. I walked over to the desk that was designated mine and I pulled out a book. It was labeled: "Vision Journal".

I wrote exactly what I saw and closed the book. I hadn't seen Andrew since Ash and I accepted our job as defendants two years ago. I got up and walked into the kitchen. Ash was making scrambled eggs and bacon with toast. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. She smiled and grabbed my hands.

"I'm sorry for the rude awakening, Ash," I said.

"I was already up," she said. "And that vision seems pretty serious. They seem to be getting worse, and we need to find out what they mean."

"That's why I love you," I said and kissed her on the neck.

"Why?" she asked.

"You don't let anything slow you down," I said and kissed her again. "You are strong, smart, caring, and beautiful. Not to mention a great cook."

She smiled and turned around. She rested her head on her chest, and I stroked her long brown hair. I hugged her, and she wrapped her arms around me. We stayed in an embrace for a while before she stopped to flip the bacon. I kissed her on the neck and sat down at the large table. For the first time I realized there may be a reason why we have a table that holds six people and two extra full bedrooms. We've been here for two years and I still hadn't figured this place out completely.

We ate and talked about what the plan was. We were going to suit up in full armor with weapons in case we ran into anything, and we were going to have a look of things at Andrew's parent's house. If he was there and had his dog tags, there was nothing to worry about. If he wasn't we were going to check on Jade, his girlfriend, and try to find some information.

We finished and I washed the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. We walked back into **our** bedroom and began to change. I grabbed a pair of dark jeans, a black shirt with a guitar printed on it, a black zipper hoodie, some socks, a pair of black gloves, and black converse shoes. Ash dressed relatively likewise, but she had to change her bra and panties because they were red and this was a stealth mission. Everything that could be black needed to be. She changed into a black sports bra and a black thong and then finished changing.

I walked into the armory section and selected my weapons. I grabbed my sword. It was encased in a black sheath with a dark blue and black handle. I pulled it out to check to make sure it was sharp. It was light as a feather and four feet long. The blade was deep black, but the sharpened edge had a silvery tint to it. I sheathed it and laid it on a table. I went to grab my assault rifle, but then decided against it. I don't think people would appreciate an 18 year old walking around with a military grade automatic. I instead grabbed an M9 Pistol and attached a red dot scope as well as a silencer onto it. I put it in a special holster designed for pistols with scopes that I had PAT make. I grabbed a few magazines and set everything down on the table. I walked over and grabbed a black steel armor set that didn't shine and moved it over to the same table. I decided to leave the breast plate. It was unnecessary weight because if a blow did get to my chest it would rip through the plate because it didn't have a deflection angle on it like everything else did. I put the shoulders on and strapped them down. Next, I placed the upper arm plates on and then lower arm plates. I tied each one of the four pieces down. Then I put on the thigh guards and the shin guards. After tying each down, I strapped the pistol to my side and loaded the magazines into my pockets. I next strapped my sword to my back and put my hood up. I walked over to the vehicles and waited for Ash. She came out and put on the same sort of armor and equipment, but she picked up her duel daggers and a throwing knife belt instead of a pistol.

She joined me by the cars, and I said, "Do we really need a car? It will just attract attention."

"Good point," she said. "We also need to still perfect our teleportation spells."

We both got down on one knee. I looked at her, and she looked at me. I closed my eyes and focused on Andrew's house. I jumped and immediately landed hard across the street from his house. A second later Ash landed next to me. I peaked around the house to make sure no one was looking. I pointed up to instruct her to climb up to the top of the house we were next to. We got on top and could see directly into Andrew's room. We sat their waiting. By four in the afternoon, long past when he should have come home, I looked at Ash and shook my head. We went to get up, and I saw a hooded figure leaning against a street lamp watching the house. A car pulled up to Andrew's house, and the figure turned away to hide that it was watching the house. Andrew's step-dad got out of the car looking depressed. The figure sighed heavily and began walking away. I looked at Ash, and she got the same idea I had.

After following the figure for an hour or two, he came to a cruddy looking 1 bedroom, 1 full bath house. Inside I saw a woman making food. There was a large piece of hamburger being made on the stove next to some noodles that were boiling. The woman looked out the window, and I recognized her face. It was Jade. The figure entered the house and unzipped its hoodie. Jade went up and hugged, I was presuming, him. When she exited her embrace she was talking. She walked away, and I saw dog tags hanging from his neck with his face still out of view. I looked at Ash, and I motioned that we should go down there. It was getting dark being it was late autumn.

We walked up to the house and knocked on the door. I saw the figure move to the back room, and Jade came to the door with a worried face. She opened it.

"Hello," she said, her voice shaking. "Can I help you?"

"Jade," Ash said. "It's me, Ashley."

"Ashley," Jade said. "Oh my God, it really is you."

"Jade," I piped up. "We need to see him."

"Andrew?" Jade said with a worried face. "He's… he's not well. Perhaps you could tell me what you need and…"

I cut her off and said, "I know."

She stepped to the side and I took off my hood. I walked past her while Ash stayed with Jade. I walked to the entrance to their bedroom.

"Andrew," I said. "I need to talk to you."

"Go away," he fake coughed.

"Andrew," I said. "I know when you're faking it. I'm your best friend. I need your help."

"I can't help you," he said. "I can't even be seen in public. I can't provide for the woman who gave up everything to be with me. I can't ask for money from my parents who think I'm a freak."

"Andrew," I said. "How did you turn into a balverine?"

"How do you know?" he asked and stepped out of the bathroom but was still covered in a shadow.

"I can explain that later," I said. "I came here to offer you and Jade a better life. You won't have to worry about money, food, or shelter and can kill balverines with real weapons instead of your bare hands."

"What's in it for you?" he asked.

"A chance to help out a friend," I said. "A chance to have a friend after two years..."

"Jade," he said. "Pack your things; we're leaving with John and Ash."

"No need for clothes or anything," Ash said. "We have that taken care of."

"Let's go then," Jade said.

Andrew stepped out of the shadow and turned on the light. I took a step back. My friend, this monster, no longer had his face. He now had the face of a wolf.

"I think we should teleport, Ash," I said.

"You take Andrew," Ash responded. "I'll take Jade."

I reached my hand out and Andrew grabbed it hesitantly. I got down on one knee, and he copied. I looked at him before closing my eyes and focusing on the building that had become our home.

"Did you say teleport?" Andrew asked.

"I did," I responded still with my eyes closed. "Jump on three… One… Two… Three!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Well, At Least the Alarm System Works**

I was never too good at teleportation, so that was one of the reasons I took Andrew. This was not one of my better landings. Some might say we impacted. We hit so hard that we were tossed across the hangar. I looked back to see Ash shaking her head and laughing as I flew. I had to rush to avoid hitting a helicopter blade and crashed into the Audi. Andrew crashed into the infirmary ironic enough.

"No trauma," the voice of Doc said from inside the infirmary.

I got up and looked at the damage to the Audi. The hood was crushed in, but PAT could fix that easily.

"Oh crap," I said out loud.

"INTRUDER ALERT," PAT sounded and a siren went off. "A BALVERINE HAS ENTERED THE HANGAR."

"PAT," I yelled. "Turn off the alarm it's an old friend of mine."

"Verify," PAT said.

"THIS IS ANDREW FUCKING MASTERS YOU ARE TO TURN OF THE DAMN ALARM!" yelled Ash. "PAT TURN OFF THE ALARM AND ADD HIM AND HIS WIFE JADE TO THE LIST OF PEOPLE ALLOWED IN HERE!"

"Very well," PAT said and the siren turned off.

"Lovely security," Andrew said walking out of the infirmary.

"His name is PAT," I said. "He can be aggravating some times, but he's nice to have around."

"It's late and I bet you're all hungry," Ash said and turned to me. "Do you want to show them to their room?"

I nodded and waved for them to follow me. We walked down the living quarter's hall, and I let them pick between the room with blue walls or gray walls. Just like I thought, Andrew and Jade picked the gray room. They walked in, and I explained how the dresser worked. I told them that they had time to take a shower if they wanted to, and dinner would be ready in an hour or so. Andrew thanked me and closed the door behind me as I left.

Switch POV Andrew:

I thanked John and told him they were going to shower. I sighed and took off my hoodie and shirt. I walked over to Jade. She sat down and seemed upset. I sat down next to her and reached around to grab her shoulder. I pulled her close to me, and she rested her head on my chest. She gripped my fur and began to sob.

"I'm sorry," I said. "You have given up so much and been so strong."

"That's not your fault," she said and looked up at me. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks, and there was already a wet stain in my fur. "I made my choice. After your parents kicked you out, I gave you shelter. My parents didn't like it though. They cut me off and said they never wanted to speak to me again. I just get upset sometimes when I realize I'll never see them again."

"One day they'll regret what they did," I said. "Just be patient, Jade. One day they'll want you back. I watched them a few days ago, and they seemed so depressed. Your mother actually broke out crying for no apparent reason at all. I'll watch for the time when they want you back. When that day comes, we'll go and talk to them. You and I…"

"I don't know that I forgive them," she said.

"But you want them back," I said. "That's as good a reason as any to give them a chance."

She began sobbing again, and I pulled her closer to me. I reached and pulled her up onto to my lap, and we stayed there while she let it out. When she seemed done, I helped her out of her clothes and took of the rest of mine. We went to the shower together to save time. It quickly progressed to more than that.

When we finished our "shower", we went to the dresser and picked our outfits out. I grabbed sandals, jeans, and a matching black and gold Fleur di Lis hoodie and t-shirt. Jade placed our clothes in the dirty basket and picked out an outfit for herself. She made sure to taunt me a little as she put on her underwear, and all I could do was laugh and stare. She put on a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargo pants. I walked over and kissed her. She had gotten used to the fact that I was covered in fur, but she said that it was just like kissing a guy with a full beard.

"Is that the same for even the downstairs area?" I asked.

"Same hair concept," she said laughing. "Different type…"

We sat their laughing and kissing. It was ten minutes before dinner, but we decided that we should head out to talk to John and Ash for a while.

Switch POV John:

I walked back into the armory. I pulled off the metal plates and unloaded my pistol. I placed everything in its correct place. I needed practice with my sword. I was better with it than any gun. I had developed a move that allowed me to throw it at an enemy and then phase it back into my hand. I needed practice. Ash walked in as I started putting my plates back on.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said. "I need to practice some more. I'm going to get some training and then meet you guys at dinner. I feel rusty."

"Alright," she said. "There's only a half an hour left so please make it quick."

"I will," I said and walked over to kiss her as she took off her plates.

I walked into the training area and had PAT spawn six balverines. Five was easy, but six was still a strain for me. I opened the door and I found myself fighting on rooftops. Dark figures started jumping from rooftop to rooftop towards me. I rushed to the building they had just left. I caught one of the balverines in the legs and it dissipated. I rushed to the left as a shadow jumped towards me. I realized that rushing seemed far better for taking on multiple targets because it didn't drain your energy like slowing down time did. I had three of them down before I knew it. Out of nowhere, one managed to get a hit on me and I flew across two blocks of houses. But I wasn't in pain. I landed softly onto a house and jumped back towards a flash. I sliced and cut it into two pieces and it dissipated. The final two took me at once, and they used their nails to parry my blows so I kicked one in the chest and rushed behind it. I sliced its spinal cord and threw my sword at the last one.

"End simulation," I said and walked out of the room.

When I checked the time, it had only taken me 15 minutes. I smiled and headed to go talk with Ash. On the way I went to grab a new coat because I got some blood on it. As I headed back with a new jacket on, Andrew's door opened, and I saw him get kicked out while laughing hysterically.

"Now that's the friend I remember," I said laughing.

Jade and Andrew began laughing hysterically. It was nice having another group around. Ash came and rounded the corner and watched us laugh hysterically. She started laughing even though she didn't know the joke. I guess the idea of watching us die of laughter was humorous.

"Dinner's ready," she laughed out.

We proceeded laughing and made our way to the kitchen. It was nice to have friends.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Training Resumes**

I woke up and was pressed against Ash as usual. She was pressed back into me and was holding my hands around her. I looked at the clock on her side of the bed: "7:30 AM". I didn't plan to do anything until 9:00, so I figured I'd lay awake for a while.

Andrew didn't talk much. He just listened to Jade and Ash talk and listen to me ramble on about what had caused us to get dragged into something so horrible situation, but Ash and I were happy because it provided some escape from the usual life of eat, sleep, fuck, pay taxes, and die. I explained that how we had unlimited supplies. Andrew asked me if there was a way we could make armor for him. I responded with a "duh". I asked him if he wanted a sword, knife, claws, or knuckles, and he responded with knuckles and a sword. I came up with a cool design for the knuckles.

"I need to go make Andrew his armor," I said quietly to Ash and kissed the back of her head. "Did Jade ask you for anything?"

"No," she moaned, still half asleep. "Not yet."

"Ok," I said.

I got up and got dressed in khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. I walked up to the blacksmithing area and pulled out the drawer of metals. Chemistry came naturally to me, and I picked out the metals to make the right alloy for it.

"PAT," I said. "Can you melt this down into an alloy while I come up with the designs for the armor?"

"Of course, sir," PAT said. "Shall I get the drawing board out, sir?"

"Yes," I said.

A pad floated towards me and the screen turned on. A human man and woman appeared as holograms above the pad. I selected the man and made it proportional to Andrew thanks to a scan PAT did on him just after dinner. I selected the hologram's right arm and zoomed in on it. I placed plates along his upper arm and forearm. However, I didn't stop the plate on the forearm until it got to the knuckles. I placed hinges at the wrist that allowed him to bend his wrist back, but not all the way. I placed a system of bars and connected it to a rod that bent around his pointer finger knuckle to his pinky knuckle. He still had the ability to wield a sword and gained the ability to punch someone in the face with a metal bar. I mirrored the same armguard onto the other arm, and I made a similar structure for his legs but for both sides and without the knuckle system. I placed a normal breast plate that would fit on him and stepped back. I nodded and looked at the hologram of PAT.

"Are those the final designs, sir?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "But give it a silver rim around the black."

"Excellent, sir," PAT said and the designs began forming into a mold.

"I'm going to train," I said and walked over to the arms racks. "Will you have Andrew join me when he wakes up?"

"You could just ask me yourself," said Andrew behind me. "Your butler doesn't have to do everything for you, you know."

I laughed and tossed him a sword. "Test the weight and feel of that," I said. "I'll make you a sword that fits your fighting style better."

"Cool," he said as he caught it.

"By the way," I started to say. "I just finished the designs for your armor. I didn't give you a helmet like you asked, so it should be ready around lunch time."

"Cool," he said. "Let's train. PAT tells me you have a sick training facility."

"You might say that," I said.

Half an hour later…

"Damn," Andrew said as he came out of the training room.

"It gets easier," I said. "Shit, dude, your um… your…"

"My fur," he said. "Just say it. I don't mind."

"You're soaked in sweat," I said, watching sweat drip off of his fur. "I thought balverine's cooled off with their tongues like dogs."

"I'm half and half remember," he said. "You want to do another round, with maybe a few less balverines?"

"What?" I asked jokingly. "Fifteen is too many?"

"No," he said. "Just not twice in a row… How about we fight humans?"

"Good point," I said. "We're bound to run into a bad one. PAT…"

"Yes, sir," PAT said from a speaker next to me.

"Can you work that up?" I asked.

"I can calibrate that," he said. "But first you both need to hydrate."

"We'll do both at the same time," Andrew said. "I think that's fair. I don't want to lose my bloodlust."

Two glasses of water appeared out of a slot in the wall, and we each grabbed one. I looked to my left and saw the rooms forming.

"Sir," PAT said to Andrew. "Your armor is ready."

"Convenient," I said. "Let's go grab that."

"Where would you like to fight, sir?" PAT asked as we left for the armory.

"Can you make a simulation on top of a skyscraper?" I asked.

"It will be ready when you get back, sir," PAT said.

I looked behind us as we left and the simulation was already forming. I laid down my sword on a table and grabbed my armor.

"Your armor's over there," I said to Andrew and pointed to a manikin with his armor on.

I took off my hoodie and replaced it with a leather-hide jacket. Over top of that, I put on my usual dark steel cuirass with my shoulders attached to it. I threw on the arm guards and leg guards and strapped my sword onto my back. I noticed Andrew was struggling with his armor.

"Is it too tight?" I asked.

"No," he responded. "I can't get this damn thing to tighten."

I walked up and yanked the strings on the back of the pieces of armor making it stay.

"You get the hang of it eventually," I said.

"I guess," he said. "I like the knuckle-armguard combination by the way."

"Thanks," I said. "Do you want to use the same sword this time or try a different one?"

"Do you have a sword with a better reach and slightly wider?" he asked. "I don't care if it is heavier."

I took the sword he had been using from him and placed it on the wall. I looked around, and my eye caught on a massive great sword.

"I hope a two-hander is okay," I said. I rushed up and grabbed it off the shelf as I lingered in the air. I hit the ground and rolled. "Here you go."

He took it out of the case and inspected it. On the sheath were words: "To my half-breed friend". He pulled the sword out of the sheath and a red fox marked the hilt as well as the end of the hand guard. It was sort of shaped like a fox's tail in the curvature. He placed it back into the sheath and slung it across his shoulders.

"Fits my body and my personality," he said. "Let's go kick some ass."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – The Trick to Rushing**

"Ready, PAT," I said.

We stepped through a door and found ourselves standing on a skyscraper. Two men with their swords drawn appeared on the opposite end of the skyscraper. We unsheathed our swords and stood there for a moment.

"Take the one on the left," I said and rushed behind the right one. The simulated man and I rushed at each other to fight. We had almost equal magic skills, so I knew this was more a match about my skill with a blade. I we rushed all over the building, and at one point I had to flip over Andrew to stay out of the way of his blade. I spun and rushed, and my blade cut through something. A head encased in a helmet dropped onto my foot. A body thudded to the floor.

I smiled and turned to find Andrew fighting for his life. He was at a massive disadvantage. He had no experience with rushing, he couldn't do it himself, and his great sword moved too slowly to counter all of the blows from the man. I rushed and swung, and a second body fell to the ground.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I thought that would be easier," he said. "I didn't realize they were so good at rushing."

"Let's take a break," I said. "I'll explain how it works, so you can counter it even though you can't do it yourself."

We walked out, and we grabbed another glass of water. I grabbed the first aid kit and threw bandages at him. He began wrapping up the cuts he'd sustained from the practice blades the simulations were using. Jade and Ash walked into the armory as we sat down at the work table.

"Holy shit," Jade said and ran to Andrew. "What happened?"

"Practice," Andrew said.

"Practice!" she shouted. "How do you get this many cuts at practice?"

"You suck at fighting," I said jokingly, Andrew burst out laughing while Jade gave me this evil glare. "We were practicing fighting people with the same abilities as Ash and I."

"I didn't know how to protect myself from rushers," he said, Jade was still worriedly fixing up his cuts. "Jade, relax I'm fine."

"I still don't understand how you got cuts in a practice run," she said.

"The practice blades work to give a person a blunt half inch cut before stopping due to a widened blade," Ash said, trying to calm Jade down. "They should close on their own in an hour or so."

"Jade," Andrew said, grabbing her arm lightly. "I appreciate the work, but I'm fine."

"Fine," she said.

She set the bandages down and Andrew hugged her. "I'm really okay," he said trying to reassure her.

"I said okay," she said.

"Why don't you guys take a break for a while and head into the kitchen for breakfast," Ash said. "I'll have food ready in thirty minutes."

"I was going to explain to Andrew how to fight rushers," I said. "Why don't we do that and we'll be in for breakfast in fifteen minutes or so."

"Alright," Ash said.

We walked into the training room, and Ash and Jade left to go to the kitchen. I drew my sword as we entered the training grounds, and Andrew did the same.

"PAT," I said. "Run simulation of a flat plateau."

"Yes, sir," PAT responded.

As the landscape formed around us I turned to Andrew. "There are two basic things that you need to realize about rushing," I said. "Number one: a rusher needs to be facing where he's going to rush, so if I want to go to your left…" I looked at his left side and rushed. "… I need to face your left side. Number two: a rusher can only rush at the same speed as his attacks. If he went too fast, then he wouldn't be able to generate a sword swing by the time he was done rushing."

"Makes sense," Andrew said.

"I'm going to rush around you," I said. "I'll start slow and progressively get faster. It's your job to block my attacks. Are you ready?"

"Go," he said.

I looked and rushed behind him. I swung my sword, but it was stopped by his. I rushed to his right side, and the same thing happened. Each time I rushed, he watched where my head turned and came ready to parry. I phased away from him and stopped.

"I think you've got the idea," I said. "I'm going to go at full speed. Block as many as you can… I won't swing at full strength though in case you miss."

"Okay," he said. "Go."

I ran towards him and he got his blade ready. I looked to my right with my head and rushed, but immediately rushed to his opposite side as soon as he turned. I swung and caught his plates. I sighed and rushed a few yards behind him, still finishing my sigh as I finished. I rushed in front of him and spun. He caught my blade with the hilt of his sword and twisted. My sword flew out of my hands. I looked up and rushed into the air to grab my sword. I turned and immediately rushed back around him in an octagon causing him to duck and swing trying to parry my faster attacks. I caught him in the foot with the back, blocking part of my blade and swept him off his feet and knelt with my knee on his neck. His sword was out of reach, and I had him pinned.

"Good," I said and got up. "You lasted a lot longer than anything I've fought before."

"That was only ten minutes," he said with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah," I said. "Nothing I've fought has lasted more than five. If we keep doing this, hopefully we can reach a standstill where we have to stop out of being tired."

"Yeah," he said. "One of these day's we need to spar. Or face the same monsters with no boundaries or something."

"Little competitive," I said. "But okay. Let's go get some food."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Something New**

**THE THREE YEARS OF PEACE HAS ENDED…**

Josh walked up to a door in his full armor. He put his hood down and nodded to the guards. The guards opened the double door, and he stepped inside. A cloaked figure sat at a throne engulfed in flames. A crooked smile let loose from his face as Josh entered the room.

"The time has come, my son," Crisis said in a deep voice that caused earth quakes on the surface above. "Our three years of planning has ended. The next five are our chance to arise in the world. You must not fail me."

"Yes, father," Josh said.

He stepped out and was joined by Liz, his soul-bonder. She was dressed for battle in her usual dark steel armor. They walked together for a while before Josh stopped and turned to face her.

"So where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" she asked.

"You can't come," Josh said. "My father ordered me to do this alone."

"Your father doesn't care," she said. "I asked him."

"You asked him?" Josh said. "This isn't a job my father would want split between two people without reason."

"He says that he thinks the defendants have rallied another couple to their cause," she said. "He thought it would be best if I took on two while you took on the others."

"Now that makes sense," Josh said.

"Then let's head out," Liz said.

"Where should we start searching?" I asked.

"There was an earthquake near Cahokia Mounds, Illinois we may want to check out," Ash said, facing the television.

"Why do you say that?" Jade asked.

"Earthquakes don't occur around that area," Andrew said.

"There aren't separate plates anywhere that could rub to cause an earthquake," I said.

"So we need to go and check that out?" Jade asked.

"Yes," I said. "It's not that far from here. I think it's only like a half hour drive."

"We should probably take a car though," Ash said.

"Or two," Andrew said. "Just in case we end up splitting or something… we don't know what we'll find out there now the three years are over."

"Why don't we head out now and scout for a while," I said. "If we don't find anything, we'll head back and try again tomorrow."

"I don't care for the idea of looking for a fight," Jade said.

"What else do you plan we do," Ash said. "It's our job to fight off the evil that comes to this world."

"Not to mention the more we practice on regular monsters, the more prepared we will be for Crisis," I said. "Ash and I will take the Camaro. Andrew and Jade, you two should grab the Mustang."

"Alright," Andrew said. "Let's grab our full gear and head out."

We got up from the kitchen table and headed for the armory. I dressed in my dark steel armor and grabbed my sword. I unsheathed it and made sure it was sharp. The katana like structure making it glint to silvery-gray instead of black at all the angles it was sharp. Satisfied, I sheathed the sword and slung it across my back.

Andrew threw on his dark steel plates. The silver outlines stuck out from the rest of his dark silhouette. He slung his massive two-hander across his back. I noticed the eyes of the fox on the hilt were glowing red. I pointed it out to Andrew, and he said it had been doing that since the end of the three year period. I let it pass out of my mind.

Jade threw on her armor that Andrew made for her and grabbed a katana and an assault rifle off of the weapons racks. She loaded up and looked around.

Ash threw on her leather under armor followed by her plates before grabbing her daggers and throwing knives. She turned and faced all of us.

"We should probably throw on sweats on top of this," Ash said. "I don't think people would take kindly to people walking around in full armor."

"Good idea," I said.

I grabbed four black hoodies and matching pairs of sweat pants. We all threw those on and loaded into the cars. They didn't require keys due to the fact that PAT controlled starting the cars.

"Just follow me," I said over the radio.

"Got it," Andrew said from the next car.

A gate opened out of the wall and a ramp was revealed. We went up the ramp to find ourselves pulling out of Ash's great-grandfather's driveway. I looked at Ash and pulled out into the street. Andrew and Jade followed close behind us. It wasn't long at all before we reached the Cahokia Mounds, but what we saw wasn't like I remembered.

Fire erupted from the top of one of the mounds, and two dark silhouettes were standing inside the flame column. Two men in trench coats walked up to the cars and asked us to roll down the windows.

"Unless you're the defendants," One of the men said. "You have no business being here."

"What do you want with the defendants?" Ash asked.

"We're just here to make sure no one witnesses what occurs here," he said.

"You're not doing a very good job," I said. "If we weren't the defendants you'd now have four people who have witnessed some pretty stupid theatrics."

"Sir," the man said pulling out a gun. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. There are only two defendants at a time in North America."

I turned off the car and got out. Andrew, Jade, and Ash did the same. I looked at Ashley and back to him.

"That is my wife," I said. "She and I are the defendants. The other two people are my friends who joined us after two years. I'm going to go take those people out, while you do what exactly?"

"No need to speak in a harsh tone," he said still holding the pistol. "Prove you're the defendants."

I shrugged and rushed behind him ripping my blade out, so it now rested on against his neck, slowly drawing blood.

"Proof enough," I said. "Go secure the fucking perimeter."

I was pretty sure I made the guy shit his pants. The other guy was laughing but went with his co-worker. I looked at Jade who looked through a scope she carried with her.

"There is a man, and there is a woman," she said. "Ash and I should take the woman."

"Good idea," Andrew said. "Saves for that whole not hitting a girl conflict..."

"If you guys get into trouble let us know or get back to the warehouse," I said and kissed Ashley. "See you on the far side. Ready, Andrew?"

"Let's go," he said and held out his hand.

I grasped it and teleported at the same time as Ashley and Jade to the top of the mound. The man and woman swapped sides as to compensate for who was fighting who. They came up with a similar idea saying same-sex fights. The mound was large enough for us to have more than enough room to split the fight into two groups.

"So how do you people want to do this?" I asked out loud. "Do you just show up some place, and we fight until one of us is dead or flees?"

"I doubt this fight will end in a death," the man said. "This is a kind of practice skirmish, so we can study your fighting styles and grow to counter them."

"Sounds fair," I said. "What are your names, anyways?"

"I guess you deserve to know," the man said. "I'm Josh, spawn of Crisis. This is my soul-bonder, Liz."

"You spawned from Crisis?" Ash asked. "How is that possible?"

"That you don't need to know," He said and pulled out his swords.

Liz did the same and everyone followed. I looked at him and raised my blade in a defensive stance. Andrew's massive two-hander was held out in front of him. Ash held her daggers upside down in a defensive stance. Jade stood in the back with her gun raised. Her thumb moved as she switched it to Automatic.

As it clicked, Josh rushed at Andrew and I. We were set, but he had a move we hadn't seen before. As Andrew blocked one of his blows, Josh upper-cut the blade with a pointed gauntlet he was wearing. As the blade went up, he swung down with his second hand and hit Andrew's blade directly on the point. His blade split down the middle as Josh's passed down. It hit the hilt and stopped, but not before it reverberated down Andrew's arm and shattered bones. Andrew dropped the sword and curled his arm. He held his other hand out uselessly in a defensive posture. I phased to him and teleported. We hit the warehouse floor, and I let go to teleport back.

I landed hard on purpose and used my forward momentum to lunge forward at Josh. His blades stopped mine, and I flipped over top of the crossed blades. I spun trying to catch him in the back, but he rushed out of the way. I stopped my spin and caught one of his blades. The other blade came swinging around aimed at my chest. I rushed through it and swung. I caught his shoulder, and a small amount of deep red blood trickled out.

We both rushed backwards for a moment. I looked at Ash for a second and noticed she was doing fine. Jade was gone though. No body or anything. She must have had to take her back. I hope Andrew and Jade were both fine.

I rushed at Josh, and he spun. I caught his first blade and deflected the other with my arm guard. I twisted my blade, throwing his out of the way. I lunged forward and caught the center of his breast plate. I stabbed through, the metal folding around my blade. I hit bone. I knew it and he knew it. He rushed away and got on one knee. I looked for a split second to see Liz teleport, and Ash looked at me. I looked at Josh, rushed, and grabbed his arm.

We were falling inside a massive, flaming chamber. A pair of glowing red eyes belonging to a massive structure of a dragon stared at me. It began laughing.

"Is this all the defendants have to challenge me with," Crisis laughed. "A damn teenager…"

I teleported, thinking of the warehouse.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10 – Reforging and Healing**

**POV Andrew:**

I clenched my arm as Doc wrapped the splint around. I was still shaking from the shock the blade gave me as it broke. I glanced down at it. It was in two separate pieces. Jade was staring at them too. I looked at where the blade had sliced her leg. Where a massive gash had been, a glued-shut cut remained. She was flexing her leg and foot just like Doc had told her to do. It looked like the pain had subsided, but he knew better than to assume Jade was okay. She was tough. It took a lot to bring her to tears. This did. Even though they had stopped appearing, he knew she was still in pain even after the pain killers Doc had given her. Doc finished wrapping and turned to face Jade.

"I need to bandage that before it gets infected," Doc said. "Please lay on the bench, Jade."

"Sure," she said, letting out a sob.

She glared at me giving me this look like, _if you so much as try to help me, I'll rip your manhood off._ I smiled and she loosened up.

"I know you don't need my help," I said. "But that's my job. We are married aren't we?"

She smiled and laid down so Doc could go to work. He peeled out the temporary glue and began stitching the wound. When he was done, he wrapped the leg in a gauze wrap. A pair of crutches floated over to her and she accepted them.

"You both need rest to heal," Doc said. "I'll send John or Ashley with food when they get back."

"I'll start on it," Ash said out of nowhere.

"You're back," I said. "Is John okay, also?"

"I don't know," Ash said. "He grabbed Josh right before Josh teleported. I don't know where they went, but I'm not worried about him. He can take care of himself."

I heard a massive crash sound from the hangar. I got up and ran with Ash towards the sound. John was sitting against the wall with his head rested backwards and sword out in front of him. He had a burn along his left arm and his sleeve was burned away. He looked at us and sighed.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey I just realized I miss named chapter 11. I cut it short and posted it so everyone knew Jade and Andrew were okay, but in my haste, I forgot cola. I mean, sorry, I don't know what came over me. Anyway, I called it chapter 10 instead of chapter 11. I just thought you should know that I'm too lazy fix it. Hope you enjoy this chapter though…

Quick comment actually about the title and these posts: this chapter has more in it than anything else and I didn't think it was fair to all of you (the readers) if I kept splitting this story to create like ten cliff hangers. That same reason is behind the title because I couldn't come up with a good name summary. Also, I may make comments like this every chapter from now on. I picked up the idea from Hartman227. Check out his story, Hybrid Theory, by the way and it is a little furry but I'm don't like furries, but I like that story.

**Chapter 12 – Correct Title**

Ash took my sword and held my left arm. I looked over at her.

"We're fucked," I said. "I just met Crisis."

"Don't worry about it," Ash said. "We'll find away. Andrew, can you grab some wet towels?"

"Sure," he said and ran back into the infirmary.

I looked at my arm and realized I had gotten badly burned just by being near him. I took off my shoulder plating and it was still burning hot. I took my knife out and cut the sleeve off of my jacket and took that off as well. My entire arm was red or burnt. Ash sat there staring.

"I was there for maybe fifteen seconds," I said. "He was monstrous."

Andrew came back with the towels and handed one at a time to Ashley. She wrapped them slowly around my arm. Ash was half crying, so I helped her with the wraps. The coolness didn't take effect until towel number four. Jade came over with a thermometer, and I stuck it under my tongue.

"104 degrees," I said. "Holy shit that's a problem…"

"I need to examine him," Doc said from inside the infirmary, and a wheel chair rolled over towards me. I climbed in and Ash pushed me back into the Infirmary. I climbed into the chair, and Doc lowered from the ceiling. A metal arm came out holding something that resembled the handheld metal detectors at an airport. A red beam ran across my arm.

"You have severe heat damage all along the muscles," he said. "It did not affect the bones, so you should make a full recovery in a week."

"A week," Jade said. "I think it will be longer than that."

"I'm giving him a sedative that speeds up muscle refabrication," he said and a needle went towards my arm.

"So you already have a sedative for heat damaged muscles just lying around," I said.

"It was designed four defendants ago after a separate encounter with Crisis," he said. "Every defendant group that experiences the event has seen Crisis's true form."

"So that was just a scare tactic today," I said.

"What do you mean, John?" Andrew asked.

"If it hadn't been real he would have attacked me full on," I said. "I know where he is. He wouldn't have let me go unless there was some reason not to. He told me he was surprised to see this was all the defendants had to offer."

"What?" Ash said.

"A teenager is what he called me," I said. "Now I realize he's still threatened by us. There has to be some reason he didn't attack me."

I thought to my memories on anything of that topic. I saw Crisis's face over and over again. I noticed he never attacked. I saw one where I was looking at my leg which had a scorch mark on steel. I put my hand on the steel and it was cool. I focused back on my life and looked at Ash.

"Nothing in the memories?" she asked.

"Nothing on why he doesn't attack," I said. "He just doesn't. PAT, is there a type of metal that isn't affected by extreme heat?"

PAT appeared next to me and said, "There are two types, Mercury which is usually a liquid metal and Adamanium which is as hard as steel and doesn't transfer heat."

"Adamanium," I said. "I know almost every element on the Periodic Table, but I've never heard of it. How many protons does it have?"

"A hundred fifty-seven, sir," he said. "It cannot be constructed in this dimension."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say things just got fucking complex," Andrew said.

I nodded and said, "That might explain a few things. How many dimensions are there that we need to worry about?"

"There are two that you can access," PAT said. "The other three-thousand cannot share beings in this dimension or the other one."

"How do we switch dimensions?" I asked.

"It's a spell," PAT responded. "It works like teleportation. The realities are the same so you will find the landscape is the same, but the beings that inhabit it evolved differently from the beings in this dimension."

"We need some of this Adamanium," I said. "When I'm healthy enough, we need to go get it. Ash, you're the best at teleportation."

"I'll figure out how to switch dimensions," Ash said and headed towards the training area. "I'll have it down by the time you're better."

I climbed out of the chair and into the wheelchair. I wheeled my way towards the doorway and turned to stop.

"Why don't you two get some rest," I said. "I need to shower."

Andrew nodded and they followed behind me to the dorms. I opened the door to my room and went in. I was too pissed to notice what they did. I didn't care at the moment anyway. I rolled over to the shower and turned the water on. As I did a bench folded out of the wall as well as handle bars.

"Don't exert too much energy, sir," PAT said.

"It's just my arm," I said.

"All the same, sir," he said. "You're showing symptoms of shock. You need to relax and take a long shower without exerting too much energy."

"Fine," I said.

I rolled over towards the dirty clothes bin and put on the brakes to keep me from rolling. I went up with both arms to take off my shirt, but a massive amount of pain struck me in the arm. I winced as the pain slowly subsided. I slowly took off my shirt using only my right hand, but the pain returned as I slid the remainder of the shirt over my left arm. I rested my head back and sighed. Taking off my pants wasn't as hard because I remembered to avoid using my scorched arm. I rolled over to the shower and worked my way onto the bench.

Thanks to the two shower heads, I had cool water running on my left arm as warm water hit the rest of my body. I sat there relaxing as my left arm went numb. I looked over at it for the first time and realized how bad the damage was. There was skin missing on most of my upper left arm. The blood had been cauterized by the heat where the skin was missing which was good. It could heal on its own in three weeks. With the sedative Doc gave me I imagine it will probably take only one week.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. The water hit my face, and I sighed, thinking of the relief it was from the intense heat from just being in the presence of Crisis. I washed my body with soap and then washed my hair, but I remained in the shower just for relaxation. I closed my eyes again thinking of what we were up against.

Ash walked in. I knew it from the sound of the footsteps. I opened my eyes and she climbed in wearing all of her clothes. She sat next to me on my right side.

"I figured it out," she said.

"I knew you would," I replied. "But I take it that's not why you got in the shower fully clothed."

She wrapped her arms around me, careful to avoid my left arm, and began sobbing. I reached around her with my good arm. She cried and shook for a while, and I tried to calm her down. I didn't understand exactly why she was crying, but I knew it was one of a select few things. After the crying stopped I brushed her hair behind her ear and she looked up at me still shaking.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked.

"I just don't like it when you get hurt," she said.

"Thanks," I said. "But what really is the problem?"

"You had this look on you like you had just seen Satin," she said. "It scared me. You looked like all the hope you had was flushed out of you."

"He's afraid of us," I said. "I didn't know that at the time."

"All the same," she said. "The idea that just looking at him can scare a person that much frightens me. He's pure evil."

I looked over at my arm and forced it to lift. I brought it around and completed the embrace. I kept myself from wincing, but it still brought me to tears. I kissed her on the head and she looked up.

"It's not so bad," I lied. "He may be pure evil, but it will take more than one encounter to shut us down."

She smiled but still shook. I reached over and turned off the water on both sides. I helped her out of her jacket and jeans and set the wet outerwear over the shower wall to dry. She showed clearly through her wet shirt and panties, but this wasn't a new experience for me. She took off the rest of her clothes as I wrapped a towel around her. Tears came again as I hugged her again. She rested her head on my chest.

We dried and headed out to the bedroom. We didn't bother getting pajamas because we didn't want them. I needed to get her mind off of Crisis, and also, I wanted to feel great again.


	13. Chapter 13

Now do you guys see why I didn't split the last chapter up? That was about two cliffhangers covered, but one left unanswered. That is, why didn't Crisis attack? I hate to say it but that's going to take a while for the characters to discover. I just wanted to give a fair warning. I figured we needed a spring back chapter after the characters got owned in their encounter. Also, I decided I should explain a certain thing about Andrew this chapter. So here we go…

**Chapter 13 – It's been a week…**

I strapped my gauntlets down as the final piece of armor over my . Andrew's sword still wasn't fixed fully yet, so I made more adjustments to the recreation plans. I set the plans on the desk, the scanner read them, and the sword slowly bent. I couldn't put it back in one piece, so I was making it into a set of two swords. Ash walked into the room and stood looking at me with her hands on her hips.

"Where do you think you're going," she said.

"I need to get back into the groove," I said. "I was going to check out a problem in the Rocky Mountains."

"It's only been a week," she said. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to get into a fight right now."

"Ash," I said. "It's probably a balverine or two. I can kill those things with one hand behind my back."

"What if Josh shows up," she said worriedly.

"Then I'll leave," I said. "It should only take me an hour or two. I'll call if it will be longer."

"Don't forget code words," she said.

I nodded and walked over to the swords rack. I picked up my sword and held it up to look at it more closely. I had redesigned the sheath, so it now held my throwing knives and dagger. I slung it across my back and headed to the guns rack. I grabbed the L96 sniper, put a silencer on it, and slung it over my sword. I picked up the M9 and screwed its silencer on. I stuck it into my holster and grabbed ammo. Both of my guns were in snow camouflage because winter in the Rockies meant a load of snow. I walked over to the center of the hanger, kissed Ash goodbye, and teleported.

I landed softly in the snow and looked around. I thought about it for a second and realized this was the first time I had a successful teleportation. I smiled and pulled the gator up over my mouth. It was fucking cold outside. I was standing on top of a mountain. I could see skiers going down the mountain across from me as well as a small town at the base of it. I grabbed my sniper and looked through the scope. The town was small and consisted of a church, town hall, a few shops and some houses. I looked at the sign on the road: "Strattlesville, Population 56". A man walked over to the sign with a green paint can as well as a white one. He brushed over the number with the green and changed it with the white. It now read "48". There were few things that drop a cities population by eight people.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the hangar. There wasn't reception.

"Shit," I said aloud.

I thought for a second about a spell that could create a channel between the mind of Ash and I. I focused on her. I closed my eyes. When I opened them I was looking around in the kitchen.

"Ashley?" I thought.

"John?" she thought. "What the fuck are you doing in my mind?"

"No cell phone reception," I said.

"This is really dangerous," she said. "You went unconscious when I tried it on you."

"You did what?" I said.

"Never mind," she said. "What's up?"

"There's a massive population drop in a skiing town I'm at," I said. "There's a lot of commotion during the day, so I'm going to be here until nightfall to try and find the problem."

"Why don't I meet up with you," she said. "I need to make sure Andrew and Jade are set and then I'll head out."

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "I think Crisis knows where the warehouse is."

"What?" she said.

"It's just a hunch," I said. "Why don't you stay there, and you can fight him off if someone attacks while I'm gone. I don't want Andrew and Jade fighting while they're still injured."

"Damn," she said. "I'll get dressed anyway. Let me know if you need help."

"I will, and I'll check in every couple of hours," I said.

"Goodbye," she said.

"Bye," I said.

I looked back through my scope. There was some commotion at the town hall. People were flooding into the building. I teleported onto the roof of the building and somehow landed softly. There was a small chimney sticking out of the roof. I walked over to it and lowered my head to it. I could hear the faint voices of people inside.

"You all know why we're here," the voice of a man said. "We need new volunteers."

"Why don't we just get the government?" a woman shouted out.

"You know the answer to that," the man's voice said again. "This town is based solely on tourism to fuel our economy. If the government were to step in, we would be out of jobs."

"Then why do we have to send another group out there to be slaughtered," a man said.

"You don't," I said down the chimney.

"Who is up there?" said the first man.

"I can't tell you who I am," I said. "But I can get rid of your problem. You just have to tell me all you know. I'll do the rest."

"How can we trust you if you won't tell us your name?" the woman said.

"Don't trust," I said. "Hope I'm who I say I am."

"It's a wolf," A woman piped up.

"Stacy," the first man said. "Be quiet!"

"Bill you had your chance," Stacy said. "We think it's a wolf anyway. But it moves faster than we've ever seen. It killed my husband first. I got the clearest look at it. It stands at seven feet tall and seems to move too fast to be running."

"I know what it is," I said. "Where can I find it?"

"It's usually in the woods to the north of the town at night," Bill said. "If you do finish this job we'll reward you."

"It's not my job," I said. "It's my duty. I'll have its head on the floor of this building by tomorrow morning. All of you need to stay indoors tonight. Goodbye."

I teleported back to the top of the mountain and pulled out a compass I had packed. I was on the south end of the village facing north which was perfect. I decided to lie down and close my eyes. My alarm woke me up at 5:45, and it was getting dark. This was it.

I looked through my scope to find a few men with flashlights and rifles heading into the woods. A woman chased after them and started yanking on one of the men's coats. She wanted them to return to the town by the looks of it. I pulled down my ski mask and teleported down to them.

"Give him a chance," I heard Stacy say. "It's not even dark yet."

"He sounded like a raving lunatic," Bill said.

"You sound like raving lunatics to people that haven't experienced something like this before," I piped up and walked around the corner.

"Speak of the devil," Bill said. "Or I guess one of them."

"Shut up, Bill," I said. "You're unnecessarily risking your life. It's even watching us right now waiting for a reaction."

Bill's eyes went wide and he slowly panned around. "What kind of trick are you playing?" he said.

"A trick to convince you that you can trust me," I said. "You trusted that I was speaking the truth that it was watching us. Trust me now and get out of here."

"Let's go, Bill," one of the men said.

"This guy knows what he's doing," Stacy said.

"You have about four and a half seconds," I said.

There was a deep rumbling sound from the woods directly behind Bill. Everyone turned to face it and I pulled out my sword. Bill quickly raised his gun and fired at the rumbling. I slowed down time and slowly relieved the men of their guns. I could go without being shot. Time sped back up as the balverine lunged out of the woods towards a man at blinding speed. I rushed in front of it and knocked it out of the way so the man only received a cut on his chest as the arm went by. The man fell to the ground screaming and another one began running.

"NO!" I shouted. "Stick together! I can't watch you all separately…"

The man's head came off as the balverine went by. The body fell to the ground with a thud and Stacy began sobbing. Bill swung around to face me.

"YOU TOOK MY FUCKING GUN!" He yelled. "IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S DEAD!"

The balverine's glowing eyes appeared behind Bill, and I rushed through him for shits and giggles. I caught the balverine in the chest with the hilt of my blade and slashed to cut off its head. A silvery chain dropped with the head. I grabbed it and rushed back in front of Bill to find him about to puke.

"You're friend's death was his own fault," I said. "I'm sorry, but a lot of people can't take that. My job's done. I'd burn the remains of the balverine if I were you. If you show that thing to the public, no one will come to the village."

Stacy walked over and patted Bill on the back as he puked. She looked at me as I walked away.

"Thank you," she said.

I turned to face them. All of the men and Stacy had the look of shock still on their face. Bill stopped puking and looked up at me.

"Like I said it's my duty."

I clenched my hands around the dog tags I collected. Andrew will want to see these. I slowly walked away and found myself feeling like a champion again.


End file.
